That little video clip made mostly on Alki this weekend is part of a local show of support for families caught up in a bureaucratic crisis in Bosnia. We heard about it from Boris Popovic, who describes himself as a longtime Seattle resident previously from Bosnia, and shared the clip. In a nutshell, there’s a Bosnian government impasse over new rules for issuing official ID numbers – JMBG (the acronym you see in the clip) – and babies born in the months since this impasse began can’t get ID documents, which even kept one family from taking their baby out of Bosnia for an urgently needed operation.

This all reached a head with a blockade of the parliament building in Sarajevo – this New York Times story explains it all. So around the world, Bosnian expatriates and others who support them are making videos and photos, like Boris and his friends, usually featuring that acronym JMBG. We asked Boris how people could show support, and he replied: “Pictures of non-Bosnians with the initials would be priceless, as people don’t expect it (“Another American for JMBG” could be the caption they make). They could post them at one of the many FB pages being born as we speak. Here is one I think that has done a very nice job growing and keeping folks together and keeping what they do practical:
https://www.facebook.com/Ja.BiH.JMBG“